I’m going to say this flat out; it is hard work traveling raw. Especially if you travel like I do, I’m always taking airplanes and I make a huge effort to not have any bags checked in because I’ve had my luggage bags destroyed before.

So here’s a list of all the things I would recommend and even if you personally aren’t a huge living foods follower you may want to try these out for yourself and see how it feels to adapt these habits. You may see that all the stress in the beginning ends up being helpful later on.

1. Bring living snacks!

Of course on an airplane you can’t bring fruit (you can actually request fruit though when they bring out cookies and whatever treats out for everyone) but I usually bring food packs, green packs, live bars such as Love Force and Go Raw. Love Force also makes their own bread and kale chips; that are tasty, filling, and provide tons of energy. Go Raw makes bars, cookies/chips, granola, flax chips & raw chocolate.

I usually bring a bag of Go Raw Spirulina Cookies, their Chocolate Cookies, Onion & Garlic Flax Crackers by Foods Alive, wheat grass powder by Amazing Grass, Green Superfood Powder by Garden of Life and their Raw Meal Powder. Tons of water, sprouted nuts, buckwheat groats, sesame seeds and my favorite raw chocolate so far, a bar of Righteously Raw Maca chocolate ❤ How much do I love this chocolate? I asked for a case for Christmas…

If you are traveling by car, bus, train or so on, bring a good cooler bag and fill that baby up! Bring all of your favorite dishes that cover all of your personal cravings and a few dishes of things that you once in a while crave. With cravings sometimes being in a different place, time zone, change of temperature and so many other factors can make your body need and want things that may seem out of the norm.

Pack enough of your favorite juices for just two days or so, depending what type of juicer you have of course, this is probably the only days your juice with still be alive…poor things. It sucks wasting something so time consuming and delicious!

2. Pack Your Raw Tools

If allowed, bring your juicer and/or an easy to carry and ensemble blender. This will save you so much aggravation, and you’ll probably even save some money making juices, dressings and so on at your hotel or house you are staying at.

3. Do Your Research and See What Is In Your Area

When planning my trip to Atlanta I skipped step 2 and went straight to this one. I looked online to see what grocery stores, health food stores, raw and/or vegan restaurants were in the area as well as seeing when the local farmer’s market takes place. Websites like HappyCow.net and Yelp are helpful, but they can not be the only thing you rely on. Sometimes the shops they mention are no longer in business or people do not mention if raw items are available. For example, in Pawtucket there is a vegan bakery, juice bar and cafe called Wildflour. They freshly make their own raw; kale chips, onion rings, nut mixes, biscuits, macaroons, lasagna & brownie truffles. But it is not listed on their website.

Don’t be shy! A good friend told me once, “If you never ask, the answer is always no.” Call up some of the restaurants that look like they may be able to make something raw for you.

See if there is raw delivery services in town, a raw culinary school where may be you can even test out raw food for free, and speak to your hotel concierge.

Have a list of places, addresses, transportation methods, phone numbers and expenses jotted down so you aren’t stressing out when you get there. If worst comes to worst, DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF FREAKIN’ EAT SOMETHING 🙂 Just stay away from wheat and try to find dishes that are prepared fairly clean, for example, you wouldn’t want something fried…your stomach would hate you, you would hate you, and your friends would hate you because your gassy and whiney. May be some baked sweet potatoes, grilled zucchini, stir fry, Indian or Thai food will work for you.

If you do find a health food store or go to a raw restaurant, even if it’s just a vegetarian/vegan restaurant ask people who work there if they know any places you should check out. You may be surprised by the compassion of others.

Whenever I travel as soon as I go through security I buy the largest bottle of water I can find around and take sips of it every so often. You don’t want to get sick while traveling and it’s super easy for it to happen. As long as you have water around to keep your body cleansing and happy plus green packets to dump into it, the beginning of your trip at least should be good, hehe. My go to vitamins are; Echinacea Golden Seal, Zinc, Collodial Silver (external infections, antiseptic and disinfectant), Spirulina, E3 Live & Acai.

5. Always Make Sure You Follow the Guide Lines of Your Mode of Transportation

Wouldn’t it ruin your flight to find out that you can’t bring the amount of green powder you packed, your blender can’t go with you and it may have to sit in their lock-up until you come back, may be you have to pay an extra fee and you didn’t plan this expense, or your cooler does not meet the maximum weight or size. Always ask ahead of time, it’ll help quiet your mind and make your trip amazing.

6. See if your airline, train, etc. has a raw food option or if they can modify something for you.

There actually are airlines that serve raw food! RVML is the code and the meal consists exclusively of raw vegetables and salads. Some airlines may not have this option but a fruit platter instead, code FPML. Airlines are allowed to change their mind if they want to continue or start serving these meal options but I have seen in the past that American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, and Continental Airlines have RVML & FPML.

While I was in Georgia I had some great findings besides Lovin’ It Live, I found raw hummus, cheesecake, juice and organic fruits and vegetables in a near by grocery store called Kroger. To the left is the “Sprouted Hummus Among Us” and to the left is “Raspberry Fields Forever Cheezcake”. The hummus was fantastic, especially with the garlic & onion flax crackers I brought along with me.

A few stores over there’s a nutrition shop where I found Garden of Life Raw Green Superfood packets and Penta water.

7. Do not starve yourself or try to do a major cleanse while traveling

This will most likely back fire and possibly cause you to eat extremely terrible things that you will later regret. Your body and mind will completely freak out. It is mentally, physically & spiritually damaging. It’s already difficult enough to deal with new time zones, people, surroundings, stores, temperature, and languages then to do something that will cause all of your demons to stampede out of the closet, it may take quite some time to recover from.

8. Try to stick to your typical eating patterns. For example may be having juice for breakfast, snack, large lunch, juice, snack, and a small dinner is your routine.

To the best of your ability try to keep the same balance you have at home anywhere you go. If you usually work out every other day, make a point of squeezing some sort of work out in. Trying to stick with a similar eating pattern will keep your body functioning normally and hopefully assist in keeping you happy ❤